The technology described herein relates to polymeric fibers and related materials and methods for preparing and using such materials.
Polymeric fibers can be used for a broad spectrum of biological and medical applications. They can be used as support for three-dimensional cell culture and tissue-based bioassays. Cells in vivo reside in an organized three-dimensional environment as part of tissue and organ structures. Conventional two-dimensional cell culture approaches cannot recreate the structure of living tissues.
The development of three-dimensional cell culture can more accurately mimic tissues and organ structures. However, the need to control multiple chemical and physical properties of the cell matrix makes current three-dimensional cell culture strategies labor-intensive and difficult to reproduce.